Introduction To Poetry
Introduction To Poetry
Introduction To Poetry
The Eagle
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
Meaning
The meaning is that a man who is busy/dedicated to his work is a worse lover than anyone
else. He is always going to put his partners second to his work. The speaker asks her partner
several rhetorical questions, challenging his decision to leave their bed at the break of the day
and return to work. She doesn’t believe that just because the sun has risen that their love-
making or time together should end.
The first four lines of each stanza are written in iambic tetrameter, while the final two
lines, aside from a few exceptions, are written in iambic pentameter.
Literary Devices
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are
not limited to:
Assonance: the repetition of the same vowel sounds in multiple words. For example,
“O wilt thou therefore rise from me” uses the same “o” sound.
Imagery: the use of particularly effective descriptions that should inspire the reader’s
senses. For example, “Why should we rise, because ’tis light? / Did we lie down,
because ’twas night?”
Personification: occurs when the poet imbues something non-human with human
characteristics. For example, “Light hath no tongue, but is all eye; / If it could speak
as well as spy.”
Consonance: occurs when the poet repeats the same consonant sound in multiple
words, for example, the “s” in “Should in spite of light keep us together.”
Alliteration: the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple
words. For example, “thou therefore” in line two of stanza one and “him” and “had”
in line six of stanza two.
To Daffodils”
To autumn
Autumn is personified and is perceived in a state of activity. In the first stanza,
autumn is a friendly conspirator working with the sun to bring fruits to a state
of perfect fullness and ripeness. In the second stanza, autumn is a thresher
sitting on a granary floor, a reaper asleep in a grain field, a gleaner crossing a
brook, and, lastly, a cider maker. In the final stanza, autumn is seen as a
musician, and the music which autumn produces is as pleasant as the music
of spring — the sounds of gnats, lambs, crickets, robins and swallows.
‘To Autumn’ is a highly sensuous poem that brings the season to life
through the sights, smells, and sounds of autumn. This poem
narrates the passing of both a glorious autumn day and the season
itself.